Nothing is better than baking fresh banana bread with seasonal fruit! Here is a scrumptious banana bread recipe with blueberries, chocolate and hemp

I am a huge fan of raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, and bananas. Luckily for me, autumn is a great time for local bananas.

The food industry has evolved a lot over the years, to the point where it allows us to have almost any fruit or vegetable all year round. When I was younger, I used to think this was such a wonderful and blessed concept. Yet now that I think about it, it’s better to try to buy your produce local when it is in season, or most abundant.

For one thing, it will taste better! This is because crops picked at their peak will be more fresh and ripe. Simple as that.

Secondly, it’s healthier! It takes weeks for imported fruits or vegetables to reach your grocery store or house. In this time, the produce loses a lot of its nutrients. The shorter the time span between picking the food to eating it, the more nutrients you get.

It's also cheaper! Since farmers grow an abundance of in-season produce, they can afford to sell them at a lower cost.

Anyway, moving on to the delicious banana bread making.

I have made this recipe for years. It was adapted from an old Martha Stewart recipe, and it is by far the best banana bread recipe ever (in my personal opinion). The recipe written below is how I made it, inclusive of all my alterations.

Note: This particular recipe includes blueberries, which were in season during the summer. Feel free to swap them with any autumn fruit! These include apples, pears, pomegranate, passion fruit, grapes, cranberries, and more.

Toppings

Method

Ensure the butter is at room temperature. Then using an electric mixer beat the sugar and butter until smooth. Crack in two eggs and beat them in as well.

In a medium bowl, combine 1¾ cups of flour with the baking soda and salt. For the flour, you can use wholewheat or white. I used wholewheat because I love the texture it gives, but honestly, with this recipe you can’t really taste the difference.

Add the dry mixture into the butter mixture and beat just until combined.

Mash about three very ripe bananas to make one cup. I used a potato masher, but a fork will probably do. Then add ½ cup of Greek yoghurt (you can choose to use sour cream instead, which is what Martha’s recipe called for). Finally, add in the vanilla extract and cinnamon. Mix until combined!

Pour the batter into the buttered loaf pan. If you want to put toppings on, this is the time to do it! I sprinkled on chocolate, hemp, and the fresh blueberries before putting it in the oven. Bake for about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then place it on a cooling rack.

Last step is to EAT it. Enjoy!

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ME...

Hi, my name is Pui Yi! I am an Environmental & Business student at the University of Waterloo. I am a major foodie, but deeply care about our food systems, mass species extinctions, climate change, and the overall sustainability of our planet! If topics such as food, healthy living, gardening, and sustainability interest you, I encourage you to stay tuned to Grobo’s Blog!

This post was originally published on July 20, 2015. Read the original post here.